Plano ISD Council of PTAs Starts Education Funding Petition

The Plano ISD Council of PTAs is circulating an education funding petition for signatures. The Council plans to hand deliver the signed petition to the local offices of Representatives Van Taylor, Jerry Madden and Jodie Laubenberg next Thursday. Annette Maule, Legislative Chair for Plano ISD Council of PTAs, says the Council is extending an open invitation to all who would like to join in the hand delivery of the petition. Click here to sign the petition. (Annette Maule can be contacted at legislative@planopta.org)

To The Honorable Members of the Texas House of Representatives:

We, the voters of Texas, strongly believe that the future of our great state depends on the investment we make today in education. We call on our elected officials in the House of Representatives to take the following urgent actions in support of Texas public education:

1. Support new revenue source dedicated to education spending.
2. Close business tax loopholes to finance education as promised in Spring 2006 Special Session.
3. Find permanent solution to education funding.
4. Use Economic Stabilization Fund to fully fund education at current biennium level.

We urge you to support the efforts Texas Senate has made to finance public education by actively sourcing new revenues. Education is the most important investment the great state of Texas will ever make, now and forever.

Sincerely,

The Voters of Texas

Click here to sign the petition.

The GOP Bait And Switch On Social Security And Medicare

The Republican Party endorsed Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) sharply conservative 2012 budget bill when all but four Republicans in the U.S. House voted for and passed the bill before the Easter recess.

Breaking a promise Republicans made during the 2010 mid-term election to "protect Social Security and Medicare" Ryan's budget bill deeply cuts Medicare funding and replaces with a private insurance premium voucher program.

(DCCC Video - Broken Promises left and Constituents Erupt Over House Republicans Voting to End Medicare)

Ryan's Republican budget eliminates Medicare, as it exists today, and guts Medicaid as well as the rest of the government. The budget also gives additional huge tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires plus further big corporate taxpayer handouts to pharma, insurance and petrochemical industries.

The Republican budget explodes deficit spend in the near term and doesn't actually balance revenues and spending until the year 2040.

Collin County's Republican Congressional representatives Sam Johnson, Tx-3rd and Ralph Hall, Tx-4th voted for Ryan's bill.

The Billionaires' Tea Party

The Billionaires' Tea Party - Trailer

The Tea Party movement has taken American politics by storm.

But is this truly a populist uprising or one of the greatest feats of propaganda ever seen?

Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham sets out answer this question, finding that behind the movement’s rhetoric of ‘freedom’ versus ‘socialism’ lies a highly co-ordinated network of shadow groups, funded by the likes of billionaire ideologues Charles and David Koch. The video is a NEW DOCUMENTARY tracing how the billionaire Koch brothers are funding the TEA Party movement to create a privatized America.

Are the Tea Party protestors really just pawns in a plan to replace government with a privatized corporate government America? Watch the video and decide for yourself.

• facebook.com/​billionairesteaparty
• billionairesteaparty.com (DVD available)
• Koch's web of influence
  

New TDP Ad On The GOP Price Tag

The Texas Democratic Party released a new video with the following statement: "When it comes to the state budget, Republican politics are running roughshod over Texans’ priorities. Watch our new video and get the Democratic take on what’s most important."